Judicial harassment of activists continues; at least three killed in pro-democracy protests, clashes

Association

Judicial prosecution of former FNDC coordinator

On 11th January 2023, a court in Mafanco, Conakry, acquitted Abdourahmane Sano, activist and former coordinator of the Front National pour la Défense de la Constitution (FNDC), a coalition of political parties, trade unions and civil society groups formed in April 2019, of ‘criminal participation in public meetings’, including a public meeting in a school in November 2022.The public prosecutor had requested a prison sentence of 18 months.

FNDC activist arrested

On 21st January 2023, a group of heavily armed security officers arrested activist and mobilisation coordinator for FNDC, Mamadou Billo Bah, in Conakry. The activist had participated earlier that day in a mobilisation meeting organised by FNDC in Conakry, with the aim to demand a return to the constitutional order. He was reportedly held incommunicado for two days, without access to a lawyer, and subsequently taken to hospital as a result of the ill-treatment he endured at the hands of security forces. According to Amnesty International, Bah was placed under a committal order on 24th January 2023 and charged with prohibited assembly, looting, destruction of public and private property, setting fires and intentional assault and battery.

Two FNDC activists remain imprisoned, one FNDC member provisionally released for health reasons

Meanwhile, FNDC leaders and activists Oumar Sylla, also known as Foniké Mengué, and Ibrahima Diallo remained in prison, and started a hunger strike against their months-long arbitrary detention in November 2022. As reported previously on the Monitor, the two activists were arrested, together with the executive secretary of political party Union des Forces Républicaines, Saïkou Yaya Barry, on 30th July 2022 following the FNDC protests of 28th and 29th July 2022, aimed at demanding more transparency in the transition, in which several people were killed. They were charged with participation in a prohibited assembly, looting, destruction of public and private property, setting fires and intentional assault and battery.

Saïkou Yaya Barry was provisionally released on 12th October 2022 for health reasons. He was placed under judicial control and was evacuated to Tunis after his health deteriorated during his detention.

Peaceful Assembly

FNDC protests: clashes, three people killed

On 20th October 2022, FNDC protests against the way the transition is managed by the military junta and to demand the release of political prisoners, including FNDC leader Oumar Sylla and Ibrahima Diallo (see under Association), took place in Conakry. According to media reports, security forces were deployed at strategic points, including the roundabout Tannerie, where the march was intended to start. Clashes between protesters and security forces were reported in several neighbourhoods.

According to FNDC, three people were killed and about 20 people injured in the protests. Additionally, several protesters were arrested. Authorities instructed the initiation of legal procedures against the organisers of the protests.

As reported previously on the Monitor, military transitional authorities issued an order dissolving FNDC on 8th August 2022, following the protests of 28th and 29th July 2022, in which at least five people were killed by live ammunition.

Media professionals banned from protesting “liberticidal attitude” of the national media regulator

On 27th September 2022, the administrative authorities of Kaloum, a municipality in Conakry, banned a planned sit-in organised for 28th September 2022 by the Guinean Union of Press Professionals (SPPG – Syndicat des Professionnels de la Presse de Guinée). The protest, intended to take place in front of the offices of national media regulator Haute Autorité de la Communication (HAC), aimed to denounce recent decisions by the HAC, most notably the suspension of a radio programme and three journalists on 23rd September 2022 (see under Expression).

Local authorities banned the sit-in, using “the administrative measures prohibiting demonstrations”, referring to the blanket ban on public protests issued by the military junta in May 2022. The SPPG had informed the Kaloum municipality of its intention to hold the sit-in.

Two people killed in violent protests

According to news reports and Amnesty International, two people were shot dead and five wounded in violent protests on 6th September 2022 in Kondiaran, Mandiana prefecture in Kankan region. The protests were aimed at a gold mining company accused by residents of not doing enough to improve living conditions and basic services in the area.

Opening trial 2009 Stadium massacre of protesters

After 13 years, the long-delayed trial against 11 people accused of responsibility for severe human rights violations perpetrated on 28th September 2009 officially opened on 28th September 2022, later postponed to 4th October 2022. On that day in 2009, tens of thousands of people gathered at the stadium in Conakry to protest against the bid of the then head of the military junta, Moussa Dadis Camara, to run for president. Over 150 peaceful demonstrators were killed and over 100 women were raped by Guinean security forces. The security forces then covered up these crimes by sealing off the entrances to the stadium and morgues and removing the bodies to bury them in mass graves.

Expression

Journalist physically assaulted, insulted during protest

On 4th January 2023, law enforcement officers reportedly physically assaulted and insulted journalist Oumar Cissé, who works for radio station Djoma FM, while he was covering a protest of residents in Siguiri, northeastern Guinea, who were calling for the reinstatement of a politician who had been removed from office. According to professional organisation Syndicat des Professionnels de la Presse de Guinée (SPGG), the journalist was furthermore subjected to death threats.

Media regulator suspends radio programme and three of the station’s journalists for a month

On 23rd September 2022, Guinea’s media regulator, the Haute Autorité de la Communication (High Authority of Communication), ordered the suspension of radio programme ‘Africa 2015’, broadcast by radio station Nostalgie Guinée, and the suspension of three of the radio station’s journalists for a period of one month. According to the HAC, the political radio show ‘Africa 2015’, in its broadcast on 22nd September 2022, allowed its guest, FNDC planning coordinator Sékou Koundouno, who connected from abroad via a telephone call, to “make remarks inciting a popular revolt and uttered public insults”. The programme’s presenter, Mamadou Mathé Bah, and the two co-presenters, Kalil Camara and Minkaïlou Barry, are accused by the HAC of having shown a lack of professionalism and having “violated the ethics and deontology of the journalist, as well as the code of good conduct of Guinean journalists”.